BEMIDJI, Minn. – The No. 7-ranked Minnesota State University Moorhead men's basketball team continued its winning ways Saturday night with an 81-68 victory over Bemidji State in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play.

MSUM is now 21-2 on the year and 13-1 in the NSIC while BSU is 9-9 overall and 6-8 in the conference.

Senior center Isaac Sevlie led all scorers with 20 points while junior guard Aaron Lien had 18 points and three assists. Senior guard Tyler Vaughan added 14 points, four rebounds and four assists and junior guard Ayob Ayob had 12 points. Senior guard Ngjiol Songolo added 11 points and sophomore guard Tanner Kretchman had six points adding eight assists.

On the game, the Dragons shot 48 percent from the field including 55 percent from three-point range while the Beavers shot 47 percent from the field and 22 percent from beyond the arc. MSUM grabbed 34 boards while BSU had 32 and the Dragons dished out 18 assists compared to 13 from the Beavers.

The Dragons took an early lead, 7-2, capped off by a floater through the lane from Kretchman. Sevlie hit back to back jumpers to give MSUM a four point lead at 13-9 with 14 minutes to go in the first. Two freethrows from Lien with just over two minutes to go in the first half would give the Dragons a 39-27 lead going into halftime.

In the first half, the Dragons shot 50 percent from the field and 36 percent from three-point range while the Beavers shot just 8 percent from beyond the arc. There was not a stoppage in play until under nine minutes to go in the first half.

The Beavers came out hot in the second half before a three from senior guard Tyler Vaughan would give the Dragons a 49-33 lead with just under 17 minutes to go in the game. Ayob would continue his hot hand from beyond the arc, hitting from three with 13 minutes to go in the game, boosting the Dragon lead to 56-41. Seconds later, Sevlie converted the good old fashioned three-point play, giving the Dragons a 59-43 lead. Vaughan would hit a three to seal the victory, making the score 77-60 with just over two minutes remaining in the game.

MSUM hits the road again next weekend with games at Concordia-St. Paul and Minnesota Mankato on Friday and Saturday.

Steve d'Eustachio Stat of the Game: Tanner Kretchman got 13 assists last night to up his season total to three in which he has gotten at least 10 helpers. In the previous 14 seasons, only four Dragons have recorded at least 10 assists in a game and they each did it only once:
-- Anthony Tucker – 10, 92-77 home win versus the University of Mary on Feb. 22, 2013
-- Jake Driscoll – 10, 77-71 loss at Dickinson St. on Dec. 19, 2009
-- Marcus Ebow – 11, 73-62 win at Southwest Minn. St. on Jan. 6, 2006
-- Kyle Staloch – 10, 80-66 home win versus the University of North Dakota on Dec. 4, 2002